Comments on: Seneca in Spring-Time http://blog.oup.com/2012/04/seneca-death-in-spring-time/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:01:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Alice's top 10 OUPblog posts of 2012 | OUPblog http://blog.oup.com/2012/04/seneca-death-in-spring-time/#comment-332463 Alice's top 10 OUPblog posts of 2012 | OUPblog Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:33:10 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=23347#comment-332463 [...] we had so many fine articles from Oxford World’s Classics editors, but Emily Wilson’s “Seneca in Spring-Time” took me by surprise and made me realize what a poor state my Latin was [...] [...] we had so many fine articles from Oxford World’s Classics editors, but Emily Wilson’s “Seneca in Spring-Time” took me by surprise and made me realize what a poor state my Latin was [...]

]]> By: Max Bini http://blog.oup.com/2012/04/seneca-death-in-spring-time/#comment-269026 Max Bini Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:06:37 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=23347#comment-269026 Thank you so much Emily. Reading these passages out of context allowed me to recall all the tragedies and how distinctive Seneca’s style is - the lightning quick repartee of clashing thoughts and moods as well as the gory details, the venomous hate and the uber-rationality of his major protagonists. In the context of spring being a time of “rebirth of what had seemed dead,” the passages on turning back time, the gods fleeing and day turning to night are also relevant. So, here is another quiz (guess the tragedy and the speaker ( with answers below)): a) “But what is this? Darkness gathers at noon! The sun is overcast but by no cloud. What makes day run away, driving it back to the east? Why does strange night bring forth its black face? Why do so many stars fill up the sky by day?” b) “But what is this? My hands refuse me, the cup is too heavy to hold; the wine slips from my very lips and pours away from my open mouth. How very frustrating! Look, even the table is shaking, the ground trembles; the fire flickers out; even the heavy sky is empty, stupefied: not night or day.” c) “No longer will the Sun, leader of stars, raise his eternal torch and usher in the seasons, pointing out the proper times for summer and winter.” d) “This is what made the gods ashamed, this drove the day back to the east.” e) “O all-enduring Sun, though you retreated and drowned the broken day in the middle sky, you set too late!” f) “Why, Lord of Earth and Sky? Why is all beauty gone, why is dark night risen at noon? Why this change of yours, why destroy day in the middle of day? Why, Phoebus, do you rob us of your face?” g) “I have confounded the law of the sky: the world has seen both sun and stars together, and you, Bears, have touched the forbidden sea. I have bent the course of the seasons, the summery earth has shuddered at my spell, Ceres has been compelled to see harvest in winter.” Answers in order: a) Hercules in Hercules Furens b) Thyestes in Thyestes c) Chorus in Thyestes d) Thyestes in Thyestes e) Messenger in Thyestes f) Chorus in Thyestes g) Medea in Medea. Thank you so much Emily. Reading these passages out of context allowed me to recall all the tragedies and how distinctive Seneca’s style is – the lightning quick repartee of clashing thoughts and moods as well as the gory details, the venomous hate and the uber-rationality of his major protagonists.
In the context of spring being a time of “rebirth of what had seemed dead,” the passages on turning back time, the gods fleeing and day turning to night are also relevant. So, here is another quiz (guess the tragedy and the speaker ( with answers below)):
a) “But what is this? Darkness gathers at noon! The sun is overcast but by no cloud. What makes day run away, driving it back to the east? Why does strange night bring forth its black face? Why do so many stars fill up the sky by day?”
b) “But what is this? My hands refuse me, the cup is too heavy to hold; the wine slips from my very lips and pours away from my open mouth. How very frustrating! Look, even the table is shaking, the ground trembles; the fire flickers out; even the heavy sky is empty, stupefied: not night or day.”
c) “No longer will the Sun, leader of stars, raise his eternal torch and usher in the seasons, pointing out the proper times for summer and winter.”
d) “This is what made the gods ashamed, this drove the day back to the east.”
e) “O all-enduring Sun, though you retreated and drowned the broken day in the middle sky, you set too late!”
f) “Why, Lord of Earth and Sky? Why is all beauty gone, why is dark night risen at noon? Why this change of yours, why destroy day in the middle of day? Why, Phoebus, do you rob us of your face?”
g) “I have confounded the law of the sky: the world has seen both sun and stars together, and you, Bears, have touched the forbidden sea. I have bent the course of the seasons, the summery earth has shuddered at my spell, Ceres has been compelled to see harvest in winter.”

Answers in order:
a) Hercules in Hercules Furens
b) Thyestes in Thyestes
c) Chorus in Thyestes
d) Thyestes in Thyestes
e) Messenger in Thyestes
f) Chorus in Thyestes
g) Medea in Medea.

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